Adjustable door latch



April 21, 1970 T. R. SMITH 3,507,531

ADJUSTABLE noon LATCH Filed Aug. 50, 1968 INVENTOR. 7710/?45 R 5M/77/ United States Patent O 3,507,531 ADJUSTABLE DOOR LATCH Thomas R. Smith, Newton, Iowa, assignor to The Maytag Company, Newton, Iowa, a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 30, 1968, Ser. No. 756,472 Int. Cl. E05c 3/04 US. Cl. 292241 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An adjustable latch for a door of an appliance such as a dishwasher is disclosed. The adjustable latch assembly includes an operating shaft having a threaded relation with a bearing sleeve. The operating shaft includes a latching member at one end and a handle at the other end releasably connected to the operating shaft and the bearing. With the handle disconnected from the bearing sleeve, the operating shaft is axially adjustable relative to bearing sleeve to 'achieve desired spacing of the latching member relative to a cam for properly closing the door against a door jam.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relates to improvements in adjustable latches for doors and has reference more particularly to an adjustable latch for an appliance door such as the door of a dishwasher.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The improved construction of adjustable latch utilizes a cam surface on an operating shaft extending from the door, and which, in one position will go through a slot in the door jam. When rotated the latch will turn on a mating cam surface fixed to the door jam so as to pull the door tight. The latch is adjustable through a threaded connection of the operating shaft and a bearing sleeve. The handle, in turn, connects the bearing sleeve and operating shaft as a rotatable unit with the bearing sleeve being mounted for rotation in a die cast panel forming part of the door.

Accordingly an object of the invention is to provide a door latch of the type having camming action so as to pull the door tight when in a closed condition and which can be conveniently adjusted whereby the latch will operate in a satisfactory manner to maintain the door tightly closed at all times.

Another and more specific object of the invention resides in the provision of an adjustable door latch such as described and wherein adjustability is provided for by the threaded relation which exists between the rotatably mounted bearing sleeve and the operating shaft.

A further objective of the invention is to provide a latch wherein the operating shaft, the latching member integral therewith, the rotatably mounted bearing sleeve and the handle operate as a unit, but wherein the parts can be conveniently separated to permit threaded adjustment of the operating shaft with respect to the bearing sleeve to thereby adjust the camming action of the latching member against its mating cam surface.

With these and various other objects in view, the invention may consist of certain novel features of construction and operation, as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the specification, drawings and claims appended thereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings which illustrate an embodiment of the device and wherein like reference characters are used to designate like parts FIGURE 1 is a cross sectional view of the door and associated parts of a dishwasher and which illustrates the improved latching assembly of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 2-2 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates the chamber of a dishwasher and which is essentially formed by side walls such as 11, the top wall 12 and the door 14. The top wall 12 is flanged to provide the shoulder portion 15 which extends substantially around the door opening. The second flanged part of the top wall provides the door jam 16. At the desired location the mating cam 18 is fixed to the door jam 16 and the door jam 16 is formed with an opening 20 adjacent the cam 18, and of special shape, as shown in FIGURE 2, for accommodating the latching member to be presently described. The wall 21 of the door 14 retains the gasket 22 of any suitable resilient material and which is caused to contact the shoulder portion 15 when the door is closed to effectively seal the chamber 10 of the dishwasher and prevent the escape of steam and/ or water from the chamber.

The door 14 additionally includes the die cast panel 23 which provides the required recess for receiving the handle 24. The said die cast panel also provides the hub portion 25 which functions to journal the bearing sleeve 26, thus mounting the bearing sleeve for rotation. The bearing sleeve 26 is rotated in the hub 25 a part of a revolution each time the handle 24 is turned by the operator for actuating the latch in the opening and closing of the door. It will also be observed that the wall 21 of the door is formed with a peripheral wall 27 which is disposed substantially parallel to but in spaced relation with the wall portion 17 which extends between the shoulder 15 and the door jam 16.

In accordance with the invention the operating shaft 28 provides the latching member 30 and as shown the member 30 is integral with the shaft 28 which extends through the bearing sleeve 26 and projects from the sleeve at each end. The latching member .30 is formed on the operating shaft 28 at its right-hand end and the shaft at its left-hand end has a splined relation as at 31 with the handle part 24. Also in accordance with the invention the intermediate section of the operating shaft has threaded relation at 32 with the rotatably mounted bearing sleeve 26. The threaded connection between the operating shaft 28 and the bearing sleeve 26 makes possible the desired adjustment of the latching member 30 in a direction which is axial of its rotary movement. Thus the camming action which the latching member has with its mating cam 18 can also be adjusted.

The operating shaft 28, bearing sleeve 26 and handle 24 are releasably retained to form a single operating unit by the machine screw 34 and nut 35. The machine screw 34 extends axially through the operating shaft 28 and is held at one end by the screw head 36 which engages the butterfly-shaped latching member 30 and at its other end by the nut 35. The hub section of the handle 24 and the coacting face of the bearing sleeve are locked and held in the desired rotative position by interlocking axial projections 37 which are formed on each of the respective parts. The interlocking axial connection 37 together with the spline connection 31 effectively locks the handle 24 to the bearing sleeve 26 and to the operating shaft 28 so that any actuation of the handle 24 is directly transmitted and all the parts rotate as a unit.

It has been previously explained that the sleeve 26 was rotatable in the hub portion 25 of the die cast panel 30111011 23. Although the sleeve is rotatably mounted it s held against axial displacement by the integral flange 58 at one end and by the handle 24 at the other end. In fact the contact of the handle 24 with the hub face it! is effective in taking up the thrust which develops when he handle is turned upon closing of the door to cause he camming of latching member 30 on cam surface 18 .o pull the door tight.

When the handle 24 is in the number one position, as n FIGURE 3, the latching member 30 is located in alignnent with the opening 20 and with the latching member 10 positioned the door 14 can be opened since the nember will pass through the opening and through the door jam 16. When the door is closed, the latching member will again be positioned as shown in full line in FIGURE 2, and in order to pull the door up tight, the operator will turn the handle 24 in a clockwise direction as in FIGURE 3. Eventually the position of number two is reached and accordingly the latching member will have seen rotated into its number two position as in FIGURE 2 to effect a partial camming of the latching member 30 on cam 18. As rotation of the handle 24 continues the stop position of the number three is reached and in this position the latching member will have obtained its full camming relation with the cam 18. The door will be pulled up tight with the door gasket 22. in compressive contact with shoulder 15. The three positions of the handle are designated by the detent notches 41 in the hub portion of the handle and which have their respective association with the detent spring 42. The stop portion 43 is formed on the hub portion of the handle 24 so that when the said portion 43 contacts the top portion 44 of the die cast panel the handle 24 is prevented from any further rotation in a clockwise direction.

The numeral 45 indicates a line switch or on-off switch in FIGURE 2, having a fixed location on the wall 16 forming the door jamb and which is actuated by the spring finger 46. The finger extends from the on-off switch to adjacent the cam 18 and in the path of the latching member 30. When the latching member is rotated into its position number three as shown in broken lines in FIGURE 2, the same will contact the spring finger 46 and lift the finger to actuate the switch 45 into a closed condition. In the other positions of the latching member the switch will be open so that the dishwasher can be operated only when the door 14 is closed and fully latched.

In order to adjust the latching member 30 as regards its axial position in the bearing sleeve 26, the handle must be released from its splined connection 31 with the operating shaft 28 and interlocking connection 37 with the bearing sleeve 26. This can be conveniently accomplished by the operator since the latching structure is carried by the door and when the door is open both ends of the holding screw 34 are accessible. With the handle 24 released from the operating shaft 28, the shaft can be turned to bodily move it in an axial direction to either tighten up the camming action of the latching member 30 on cam 18' or loosen the same. The axial movement of the operating shaft is accomplished by turning the shaft at the threaded connection 32 between the shaft 28 and the rotatably mounted bearing sleeve 26. This axial adjustment permits the positioning of the latching member 30 with relation to the cam 18 so as to compensate for variations in the fabrication and use of the dishwashing appliance.

The invention is not to be limited to or by details of construction of the particular embodiment thereof illustrated by the drawings, as various other forms of the device will, of course, be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In an adjustable latch for a door movable relative to a door jam, the combination of a bearing sleeve rotatably journalled in the door, an operating shaft extending axially through and in threaded adjustable engagement with the bearing sleeve, a handle normally engaged with the operating shaft and the bearing sleeve so that the operating shaft and bearing sleeve will rotate as a unit when the handle is turned, latching means on the operating shaft at the end opposite the handle, and means associated with the door jam for receiving the latching means in a latching relationship.

2. In an adjustable latch for a door as defined in claim 1 wherein the last named means includes camming means for pulling the door tight against the door jam when the handle is turned.

3. In an adjustable latch for a door as defined in claim 1 wherein the last named means defines an opening for receiving the latching means and further defines a cam engageable with the latching means when the handle is turned for pulling the door tight against the door jam.

4. In an adjustable latch for a door as defined in claim 1 wherein the handle includes a hub having interlocking means engageable with mating interlocking means on the operating shaft and on the bearing sleeve for joining the handle, operating shaft, and bearing sleeve at a rotatable unit.

5. In an adjustable latch for a door as defined in claim 1 wherein the handle is disengageable from the bearing sleeve whereby the operating shaft and the latching means attached thereto are axially adjustable relative to the bearing sleeve through the threaded engagement.

6. In an adjustable latch for a door as defined in claim 5 wherein the means associated with the door jam comprises camming means engageable by the axially adjustable latching means when the handle is turned for pulling the door tight against the door jam.

7. In an adjustable latch for a door movable relative to a door jam, the combination of a bearing sleeve rotatably journalled and axially retained in the door, an operating shaft extending axially through and in threaded engagement with the bearing sleeve, a handle normally fixed to the operating shaft and engaged with the bearing sleeve so that the operating shaft and bearing sleeve will rotate as a unit with the handle, latching means fixed to the operating shaft at the end opposite the handle, and means associated with the door jam defining an opening for receiving the latching means and further defining a cam for coacting with the latching means in a camming relationship when the handle is turned.

8. In an adjustable latch for a door as defined in claim 7 wherein the cam is fixed to the inside surface of the door jam and engageable by the latching means when the handle is turned following closing of the door to pull the door tight against the door jam.

9. In an adjustable latch for a door as defined in claim 7 wherein the handle is axially disengageable from the operating shaft and the bearing sleeve to permit threaded rotation of the operating shaft with respect to the hearing sleeve whereby the operating shaft is axially adjusted.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 549,843 11/1895 Cross 292-241 1,164,958 12/1915 Paton 292-356 1,921,051 8/ 1933 Traut 292-241 FOREIGN PATENTS 320,772 10/ 1929 Great Britain.

RICHARD E. MOORE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 292-209, 356 

